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pixieface — Open Canvas Tutorial, part 2
Published: 2007-03-09 18:13:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 30889; Favourites: 308; Downloads: 879
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Description
Part two of my Open Canvas tutorial set! This one approaches the idea of painting in Open Canvas 1.1 using the Watercolour brushes. It's an approach at painting designed for people who have begun with comic-style art - which goes from pencils to inks to colours - and how to adapt the way you work to produce paintings.
Part One (Getting Started in Open Canvas 1.1) is located here: [link]
It covers the very basics of Open Canvas 1.1, and is designed for noobs to the program and people who don't know all the tools yet and want to learn more.
And if you'd like to see the .wpe of the image made for this Tutorial, I made a screencap of it, and it's located on youtube, here: [link]
The music and quality are rather shoddy I'm afraid - but you can at least see the process of me going from sketch to painting (and how LONG it takes me to get that sketch right, too!) XD
And if you'd like to see the painting used as an example for this tutorial, it's located here: [link]
As it appears at the end of this tutorial.
Enjoy. I hope some people find this useful.
[EDIT]
I was going to continue making these tutorials - and look at things like backgrounds, and using multiple layers, avoiding overlap, using subtract and add layers, etc etc... but basically, I can't!
I don't USE this program any more! Okay, so I know all of this stuff, but I just can't work in OC any more, 'cause my head is now all Corel Painter, and my work's moved on. Making more tutorials is stepping backwards for me, teaching something I no longer practice.HOWEVER. If anyone wants or needs any Open Canvas 1.1 tips, hints, or advice - just contact me! I am always happy to help, and I do know this program inside out. If I can't give you advice via note, we can always meet up in a paintchat and I'll show you what I mean.
Take care all! Apologies for the lack of further tutorials. I hope you all understand!
[/EDIT]
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Comments: 80
awsome (: never really used open canvas before, this helped loads, and i love using it now!
thankyou
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Thanks! I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you enjoy Open Canvas now!
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yay!!! this was slightly more complicated... but i think i've got the hang of it! I'm normally colouring in manga linearts, so the simple comic layers work quite well, but i will surely use this sometime... i need to experiment with it more first!! thankyou for the tutorial!!! oh yer and ur a very talented drawer!!! *favs*
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aww! Thank you again! I should really do a tutorial that applies to linearts rather that to outright painting - but I don't do so much of that style of art anymore, so not sure if I could pull it off....
anyways! Have fun with Open Canvas! That's what it's for...! And if you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to drop by here and ask - I'll be happy to help, if I can.
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thankyou!! Ur tutorials r awesome, ur to talented to waste ur time on simple linearts, lol! are u going to do a 3rd tutorial??
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Yes, I plan to, eventually.
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yay! thts good to hear! i'm sure it'll be great! =^^=
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Very nice tutorial 
I love your techniques for painting, its always good to learn other peoples workflow. Once again, great stuff here - keep up the awesome work
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Thank you! Eventually I should get round to making the third and fourth - I already have them planned (in my head at least) - it's just a question of getting round to making them! Spent a lot of this weekend doing actual traditional painting, so I've been distracted. XD
Thanks for your comment! With things like tutorials, it makes it all worthwhile.
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You should totally make another one! Also, where do you download that free one? I'm pretty sure that it's the one you are using. Please get back to me. Also, I'll send you a note, if you don't reply (not threat, but eagerness, I assure you).
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For downloading the free version of Open Canvas, google is your friend. That's how I found it, most recently.
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Cool. I was working on buying a more modern version, but this works fine! Thanks, and I'll be sure to use your tutorials.
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Neat!
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It is EXTREMELY hard to find any tutorials on Open Canvas, and these two you've posted are the only ones worth looking at. I was a little disappointed that you skipped over the sketch part and went straight to coloring, mainly because I am having a little trouble with the toolbox. How do I select part of my drawing, say an eyeball, and move it around? The selection tool is not cooperating. I can move the selection area but it doesn't move the area selected.
Thanks in advance. These tutorials are like water in the desert.
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Oh, thank you!
*grins* Anyway, all that aside, your question... as far as I can tell, in Open Canvas 1.1 there is no way of selecting a small piece of your sketch in order to move it. You might be using a different version of OC to me? I don't appear to have a selection tool at all - I do have a tool that will move the entire sketch around on the canvas though! It's the one in the toolbox that looks like crossed arrows, top right.
And, to answer your question, here's how I'd move a small piece of your drawing. You've drawn it on a Multiply layer, I assume? With that layer active, choose the Edit dropdown menu on the layer palette, and then choose Copy(ActiveLayer). Now, hide one version of your drawing and, with the visible layer active, erase everything with a hard-edged pen/pencil tool and white, everything except the small bit you want to move - lets say, in this case the eye. Then make the hidden layer visible and erase just the eye on that one.
With both layers visible your sketch should look exactly like it did when it was on just one layer - except now it's on two. With the layer with just the eye on active, grab the top-right tool (the crossed arrows) and use it to move the eye. It's essentially exactly the same process as selecting a piece of just moving that, but a little more longwinded, because of how OC is. It's very simple, so you have to find ways round these things rather than doing it directly.
Once you're done moving the eye, just collapse the layers again by choosing the Edit dropdown menu on the layer palette, and then choosing Combine(ShownLayer).
Did that make sense? I'm sorry if I'm not explaining it very well... I'd probably do better if armed with my screenshots. Questions like this are really helpful to me though, it makes me consider what I know about Open Canvas 1.1 and take for granted, and what I might put into the next tutorial!
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Thanks for that eyeball tip! But also...uuuuugh. That is so not fair. I am using a trial demo of Open Canvas 4.5.06e, which is like a friendly Photoshop/Painter hybrid that doesn't make my computer feel like it's experiencing terminal bowel movement. They've expanded the toolbox quite a bit since version 1.1, but I can't tell if it includes an eyeball moving tool because the free trial doesn't come with any help files!
At this point you may own a monoply on Open Canvas tutorials(and believe me, I've searched.) This means that Google will inevitably bring the clumsy and bewildered OC legions searching for an eyeball moving tool to this page, but thanks to your tutorials they will leave as competent and informed OC legions searching for an eyeball tool. That's what Open Canvas is all about. Searching for eyeball tools and finding cool tutorials instead.
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*laughs* Awesome. I am only glad I am of some small help.
I've heard of this OC 4.5... a friend of mine has just invested in a copy. I must say I am incredibly jealous, but then I know OC 1.1 so well I'm hesitant to invest in a 'better' version for fear of confusing myself. But then I'm always like that with new software... Ah well. You must let me know how it is! Despite the lack of help files!
Sorry my help was so complicated and annoying. XD OC 1.1 is a bit like that... you can do almost everything you could do in a program like Photoshop (well, except add text or texture, I guess), it's just that things tend to be a bit long-winded. Like painting with an actual set of paints, it relies more heavily on your abilities than your knowledge, because with 1.1 there really isn't too much to know.
Anyway! Yabber yabber. I'm talking too much. Thank you very much for your comments - really, comments like this make the whole thing worthwhile. You've made my weekend.
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Lol... I searched for tutorials and selection tool help on google, and this is what came up! XD I must say, it was helpful.
oC would be PERFECT for me, if it weren't for the lack of TWO things: a liquidy smudge tool, and the ability to select and manipulate individual parts of your drawing. The first is in version 4, but I haven't run across the second. -.- GRRRrrrr...
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found out a way to use an add layer in a session.
turn the layer off, then flood fill the layer you want tpo use as an add layer black, turn the layer to add then turn it back on
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*grins* Lots of ways of using the add layer... but I shall touch on that next tutorial, when I get round to making it!
I think your tutorial on doing networking will have to win against anything I could ever make. I really don't know enough about networking to be able to advise anyone, ever.
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lol fair enough.
i had to get fpg to help me as it was with that tut
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O.O You have the best timing, ever. I just picked oC back up, as my computer is too old to run PS! I bow to you for your awesome teaching skills.
So...are we gunna get to know how you add your backgrounds, oh goddess of open canvas?
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Yup. Tutorial three will look at backgrounds, and at the Subtract and Add layers...
And then Tutorial four will put that all together!
Glad you like it, though! Hurray! I am partially useful. XDXD
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Partially?! Thanks to you, I finally figured out how to get a decent start on a full painting in oC! I started two last night. :3
Can't wait for the other parts!
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You did? O.o
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Yay
I must say that i did prefer the girl you painted in the frst version of the tut, but this is still good, even if i think that it would look better if you kept him in clothes XD.
Note to other users: This tutorial was made for solo use, meaning that you are using it offline, but when you are in a networked session some of these things canot be done, e.g merging layers, so you have to be a bit creative with your techniques
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*Nods* this is true. I figured at some point I might hammer together a brief tutorial dedicated to networking with Open Canvas - haven't touched on it at all yet! But meh, I really don't know that much about it, and I noticed there's already a really good one by... well, by you, I think?
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yep by me
only prob is that ive had people put in that ip and my username into it becasue they werent reading properly T_T.
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*laughs* silly bastards.... ah well. You can't help it if some people won't read what you write!
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